Unitary bundling straps



United States Patent O I 3,339,246 UNITARY BUNDLING STRAPS George Geisinger, Elizabeth, NJ., assignor to The Thomas & Betts C0., Elizabeth, NJ., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Aug. 17, 1965, Ser. No. 480,336 1 Claim. (Cl. 24-6) The present invention relates to bundling or tie straps of the general character exemplified in Martin et al. Patent No. 3,102,311, and more particularly to an improved, unitary, exible plastic tie-strap which is adapted to be looped upon itself in adjusted self-locking relation with a minimum of time and effort.

More speciiically, the invention relates to a tie strap of molded plastic, such as nylon for example, which is adapted to be looped about linear articles arranged in bunched parallelism, and any part of its looped body portion inserted sidewise and radially of the axis of its slotted head-end into coactable relation with a yieldable, unitary pawl and subsequently drawn taut axially through its slotted head-end in uniform increments of adjustment into self-locking relation.

Tie straps of the character described, as known heretofore, possessed certain disadvantages in that they required considerable dexterity to manipulate its body portion into inserted, looped relation with its apertured headend portion and which subsequently required considerable time and skill in securing and terminating the tailend portion with a special tool or in some other time consuming manner.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved unitary bundling strap which is not subject to the above noted disadvantages.

A further object of t-he invention is to provide an improved unitary bundling strap in the form of a wholly integral flexible plastic member including coactable means whereby its tail-end portion may be inserted sidewise into its slotted head-end portion and into coactable relation with 4a yieldable securing means in which position it is subsequently drawn taut.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved unitary bundling strap in the form of a wholly integral flexible member which includes means whereby the strap, when looped about a group of articles and drawn taut thereon, may be readily released by manipulating a member formed on the head-end of said strap.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, the novel features of which are set forth with particularity in the appended claim, the invention itself, however, both as to its organization and operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, being best understood from the following description of a specific embodiment thereof, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of the improved bundling strap showing its outer side;

FIGURE 2 is an edge'view in elevation of the same;

FIGURE 3 is an elevational View of the improved bundling strap showing its opposite or inner side thereof;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the head-end portion of the bundling strap with its reduced tail-end extending therethrough; and

FIGURE 6 is a similar view showing the yieldable pawl in its head-end portion in coactable engagement with the ratchet toothed section of its body portion.

In accordance with the invention and with reference to the drawing, the improved unitary bundling strap, generally indicated at 10I comprises a tail-end portion 3,339,246 Patented Sept. 5, 1967 12, a head-end portion 14 and a body portion 16. As best shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 5, the tail end portion 12 is of reduced uniform thickness with its free end rounded as at 18. The body portion 16 of the strap lil is provided, intermediate its ends and centrally thereof with a row of saw or ratchet teeth 20 extending from the reduced tail-end 12 of the strap 10 to a point adjacent its head-end portion 14. As best shown in FIGURES 4 and 6, the side margins of the body portion 16 of the strap 10 have a thickness dimension substantially equal to the height of the ratchet teeth 20 and a width therebetween as to form a substantial wall 22 along the opposite ends of the teeth 20 whereby the crown edges thereof are protected against damage by being out of contact with the surface of articles which may be brought into contact with the strap when in use or otherwise.

The head-end portion 14 of the strap 10, as best shown in FIGURES 5 and 6, is of enlarged irregular formation with its opposite faces merging into the body portion 16 of the strap 10 and having an open ended slot 24 therethrough extending inwardly from one edge of the strap t-o a depth at least equal to the width thereof for the lateral or sidewise selective insertion therein of the body portion 16 of the strap 10 as best shown in FIG- URES 1 and 3. While the open ended slot 24 permits sidewise insertion therein of the strap body portion 16, it is obvious that the strap body portion 16 may be inserted endwise into the slot 24 if desired.

Further in accordance with the invention means coactable with the toothed body portion of the strap 10 comprises a yieldable pawl 26 integral with the head-end portion 14 and which depends into the open ended slot 24, the heel 28 and the opposite sides of the pawl 26 being free of the head-end 14 by virtue of the clearance recess 30 and slots 32 respectively as best shown in FIG- URE 5, whereby the pawl 26 is free to yield when stressed in response to tension on the strap body portion 16 in the direction of the arrow, until lits heel portion 28 is brought into abutment with the top of the recess 30` as best shown in FIGURE 6i, whereby reverse flexing of the pawl 26 within said head-end 14 is limited to prevent malfunctioning of said strap.

In view of the open ended slot 24 opening on one edge of the head-end 14 of the strap, the head-end is reinforced along its opposite edge as at 34 to maintain normal rigidity.

The head-end portion 14 of the strap 10 also includes a flat, integral finger piece 36 coextensive therewith, having a substantial width reduction notch 38 in one edge thereof and a stiffening rib 4t)` lengthwise of and adjacent its opposite edge whereby the pawl 26 may be biased out of its normal position in response to twisting of the finger piece 36 out of the plane of the strap, as indicated in FIGURE 1, whereby the pawl 26 is biased angularly and raised out of engagement with the toothed portion 20 of the strap body portion 16 whereby the same is released from the pawl 26 when the strap is under tension.

From the above description, it will be readily apparent that the invention provides an improved unitary bundling strap of the integral pawl and ratchet type which substantially reduces the time required to secure the same about a group of bunched articles particularly when the installation of a large number of such straps is considered, and which is also reusable and thus adapted for temporary use as well as for permanent requirement.

While the invention has been illustrated and described with respect to one embodiment thereof, it is to be expressly understood that various changes and modiiications may be made therein without departing from the inventive concept underlying the same. Therefore, the invention is not to be limited except as is necessitated by the prior art and the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A unitary selt` clinching bundling strap comprising a head end portion, a tail end portion, and a body portion extending therebetween, said head end portion having a transverse generally rectangular aperture therethrough adapted to receive said body portion, a plurality of ratchet teeth on said body portion, a yieldable pawl integral with said head end portion and extending from the upper part thereof into said aperture for locking engagement with said ratchet teeth, a slot in the side of said head end portion communicating with said aperture and adapted to admit the body portion of the strap into said aperture and into engagement with said pawl, means on the upper part of said head end portion for axially distorting the upper part of said head end portion comprising an integral finger piece coextensive with and in alignment with said head end portion and on said upper part thereof, said nger piece being provided with a. notch extending inwardly from one edge thereof whereby the twisting of said nger piece will ex the upper part of said head end portion and said pawl out of the plane of the Iemaining part of said head end portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,102,311 9/1963 Martin et al. 2li-301.5 X 3,147,522 9/ 1964 Schumm 24-16 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,318,688 1/1963 France.

JAMES L. JONES, IR., Primary Examiner. 

